March 2011

March 30, 2011

Laurie Metcalf, perhaps best known for her part in the television series Rosanne, is, in New York theater circles, actor's actor supreme. That accolade was well-deserved Monday night at the world premiere of the MCC production of The Other Place at the Lucille Lortel theater. There, in that venerable West Village venue, paired with Dennis Boutsikaris, her co-star from the short lived production of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, she plays Juliana Smithton, a well-dressed scientist addressing a meeting of doctors in St. Thomas on the subject of pharmaceuticals who loses composure distracted by a girl in a yellow string bikini, a possible vision caused by a brain tumor.

Harrowing as the prospect of cancer is, a question arises as to whether or not she really has that dread disease-or something else. In short order we see that this professional is coping with a personal matter, the disappearance of her 15 year old from the family's second home on Cape Cod. Having created a mental picture of the daughter's life after this cataclysmic event, the inconsolable Juliana suffers delusions, breaking into her former vacation home where the new resident (Aya Cash, fine in a variety of roles) feeds her Chinese food until she is picked up. John Schiappa rounds out the cast.

Sharr White wrote this 75-minute tour de force of narrative ingenuity, successfully accomplishing a description of the deterioration of a demented person's experience. Juliana may not be the delicate Blanche DuBois, but you feel her pain.

Filing out of the Laura Pels were Josh Hamilton, part of the recent Three Sisters ensemble at CSC, Thomas Sadoski of the MCC production of Reasons to be Pretty, and many others. Eric Bogosian, the famed monologist who starred in last year's Time Stands Still said of Metcalf's performance, that was the most powerful I've ever seen anywhere. Joe Mantello deserves high praise for his expert direction. A Broadway fixture, he joins the company of The Normal Heart, when it reopens, but this time as actor to be directed by Joel Grey.

March 26, 2011

Taking the stage at the Ziegfeld last Monday for the premiere of the long awaited HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce, director Todd Haynes dedicated the night to mothers, “This is a movie about a mom. Mine passed away while we were making it.”

Starting top down, he introduced the cast: Kate Winslet: “She delivers a seismic career defining performance,” he noted, and in her career that's saying a lot. Winslet got up, splendid in a Stella McCartney sheath with polka dots on sheer fabric, her blond waves pinned back in a French twist. The stellar ensemble followed suit: Guy Pearse, James LeGros, Melissa Leo, Mare Winningham, Evan Rachel Wood, her blond tresses done like a long Veronica Lake do. Composer Carter Burwell stood up and bowed, his newborn in a snuggly. The night extended to dads as well.

If you are nostalgic about the James M. Cain's 1941 noir novel, or the 1945 movie starring Joan Crawford in an Oscar winning performance, think again. Haynes makes the material his own, more Far From Heaven with its take on the limitations of American women's lives.

This is an epic 5-part film set in depression era '30's and Mildred Pierce is one resourceful woman in a way that may feel resonant in today's economy. Principled and full of pride, she throws her cheating husband out and takes a job as a waitress in a Hollywood hash house much to the horror of her hoity-toity daughter Veda. In the 2 parts shown, Veda is played by a young actress, Morgan Turner. By part 3, Wood takes over the role as the drama becomes more emblematic of the troubled relationships between mothers and daughters.

Director Lena Dunham, whose debut film, the much acclaimed Tiny Furniture, featuring her own mother playing egad, her own mother, has a bit part in the miniseries, a nurse in a harrowing hospital scene. Ilene S. Landress, a producer of Mildred Pierce is developing an HBO project with her called Girls. You can't believe the sex these young people are having, she said of Dunham's new series, and I don't mean Mildred Pierce kind of sex, referring to the tasteful scenes with Winslet in a slip, or genteel and bare-breasted with Guy Pearce as the gigolo Monty. Added Landress of the film's locations, particularly the Glendale, California house where the Peirce family resides: We imported palm trees to Glen Cove.

March 25, 2011

Behold the brilliance of Tom Stoppard! His genius is reason enough to see the Broadway revival of Arcadia at the Barrymore, a civilizing relief ably directed by David Leveaux, just as the culture at large focuses on another kind of theater: the wild ravings of Charlie Sheen. Set in the stately Derbyshire estate in two time periods, the Romantic era 1809, and a modern 1993 featuring literary scholars who mine archaic manuscripts and letters in search of evidence to support slim career-making theories, Arcadia takes a sly swipe at the academic world, and tells a much richer story celebrating the life of the mind.

The play opens on a scene of privileged education. A precocious teen, one Thomasina Coverly (Bel Powley), inquires as to the nature of “carnal embrace.” Her tutor Septimus Hodge, a classmate of Lord Byron, already famous as poet and rake, answers coyly and soon reveals himself to be the subject of the inquiry, a source for household gossip, having been spotted in the gazebo with the poet Ezra Chater's wife. This scandal unfolds hilariously, and by the time we cut to the present with the heirs of the stately Arcadia, we are awed by the comedy of Byron's time as Stoppard imagines it.

To start with the most famous in this ensemble, Billy Crudup's Bernard Nightingale, an over-the-top academic, is all bravado. Playing a part originated by the wiry Bill Nighy, Crudup had been Septimus in the original American premiere directed by Trevor Nunn. Tom Riley's Septimus is sweet, smart, and worthy of the amorous attentions of the female cast including his ward's mother, Lady Croom (the elegant Margaret Colin). David Turner as the wronged Ezra Chater is hilarious; the character is so fey, you can understand the transgressions of his wife. Of the modern characters, Raul Esparza is understated as Valentin Coverly, even as he sits cross-legged on the table feeding lettuce to a turtle. Lia Williams stands out as Hannah, displaying the nervous energy of a contemporary writer. Grace Gummer as Chloe outstretched on the floor illustrates the physical freedom of the 20th century, as their 19th century counterparts in vests and high bodices are constrained. Still, and to the point, waltzing at the end, the characters of each time seem perfectly attuned.

On the night I attended, Arcadia hit a current events note. Thomasina hates Cleopatra: “The Egyptian noodle made carnal embrace with the enemy who burned the great library of Alexandria.” Who can think of the famed Queen without remembering Elizabeth Taylor?

You could say that Hamlet as invented by Shakespeare is the first modernist man. Thinker to the point of paralysis, he epitomizes what it means to be human, or better, what we get by receiving the dubious gift of the mind. David Davalos's riff on Hamlet, Wittenberg, now staged at the Pearl Theatre under the direction of J.R. Sullivan, is much in the manner of Tom Stoppard's Rosencranz and Guildenstern are Dead, a teasing out of the Shakespearean thread.

Set in Wittenberg College just before our hero's life as a student is cut short by the news of his father's demise, the play's conceit has Hamlet as a pawn of his professors, Reverend Martin Luther (Chris Mixon) and Doctor Faustus (Scott Greer). Should he follow the religion of one, or the magic of the other? Sean McNall is simply a delight as the Prince of Denmark. A staple of the Pearl Theatre, McNall was a sight in pink tutu in the Pearl's revival of a Moliere play some years back. Here in tennis whites, lobbing with an imaginary Laertes, McNall looks the part of any college kid, caught in the dilemma of living out his potential, even as it comically spells tragedy.

March 21, 2011

Patricia Clarkson looked at her watch at the Chelsea Room, at the after party for the movie Win Win. Co-host with Tony Gilroy of this celebration of the movie Win Win, she would be on a plane in six hours, en route to her hometown of New Orleans to help with a theater fundraiser. All around, well-wishers for this feel-good movie of the season crammed into the small space. No one seemed to mind. The stars Paul Giamatti, a professional curmudgeon, grimaced as he tried to eat a plate of pasta. Amy Ryan who plays his no-nonsense wife with a heart of gold posed gamely with her best pal Clarkson. Scene-stealer Burt Young, Melanie Lynskey. The young actor Alex Shaffer schmoozed with his proud grandmother. Tom McCarthy, writer director of The Station Agent and The Visitor has another hit.

No matter that Cipriani at 42nd Street was already filling up with men in formal attire like Mort Zuckerman and Tony Walton, that the other honorees, Dick Cavett for Literary Arts, and Elizabeth Peyton for Visual Arts were filing past a row of television journalists, microphones snaking through the front lobby of this opulent former bank. In the serendipity of these honors, the event featured layers of celebrations including Dick Cavett's October marriage to Martha Rogers, in a private (only her 2 sons attended) ceremony in New Orleans, a few blocks from where they first met 35 years ago. The able M.C. Bob Balaban kept the evening moving with smart quips. Even without jugglers, he kept all the balls in the air.

March 15, 2011

“Who would not want to see my film?” asked painter/director Julian Schnabel at the premiere of his new movie Miral. Shown at the UN's General Assembly, with a quarter of a million dollar screen and sound equipment supplied by Gucci, Miral reflects Schnabel's scale: out-sized and awesome. Still, his question was provocative and ambiguous, a cry for commerce amidst rumors that the film was not very good and an email campaign by B'nai Brith asking for a boycott, claiming the film is anti-Israel.

In fact, introducing the film in the gigantic space, and for an audience that included Sean Penn, Candice Bergen,Steve Buscemi, Zac Posen, Lou Reed,Laurie Anderson, and many more, Schnabel asserted that he loved Israel and that the film if anything is a plea for peace. Based upon a novel by Rula Jebreal, Miral tells the story of a young Arab girl, an Israeli citizen, caught, in the modern tragedy of the Middle East. No one wants to see children suffer: the film's narrative underscores the aching longing for a workable solution. And, by the way, this is a good film.

Performances by a Freida Pintos Miral, Haim Abbass as the head mistress of a girls' school and Alexander Siddiq as Miral's father are compelling, as are cameos by Vanessa Redgrave and Willem Dafoe, who also attended. The director's daughter Stella Schnabel plays a Jewish girl in love with a Palestinian man. Issues of violence vs. non-violence are weighed. In perhaps the most inflammatory scene, a house is demolished as a helpless family watches --an insensitive and arbitrary power play by a government obsessed with security. The film does not instigate a new critique. Rather, Schnabel enters into an ongoing discourse in Israel with intellectuals and writers like David Grossman, Amos Oz, and Yehuda Amichai.

Afterwards, Dan Rather led a panel in a conversation extolling the fundamental need for dialogue, for finding new ways toward peace. No one could argue with that. Journalist Mona Eltahawy, Rabbi Irwin Kula, former Israeli Yonatan Schapira all agreed with Rula Jabreal and Julian Schnabel, noting the irony that it would take a Jewish man -Schnabel's mother was active in Hadassah-to tell this story.

March 12, 2011

Abe Burrows' 1965 comedy Cactus Flower would not be a likely candidate for revival with its retrograde-if quaintly hilarious-take on matters of the heart. But Burrows' musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize is now in previews on Broadway; maybe there's business in the madness.

Of course the play is most memorable for the film starring Goldie Hawn in a blond pixie cut. But Jenni Barber, who did so well in last year's Bridge Project As You Like It and The Tempest at BAM, said at the after party at B. Smith, it was Edie Sedgwick who most influenced her look and performance. The actress went to MoMA and studied the screen test prominent in the Warhol exhibition on the museum's 6th floor. She was so open and vulnerable, without a hint of cynicism, said Barber. How else can you explain a girl who is as gullible and big hearted as her character Toni Simmons, when her deceitful boyfriend tells her he's married and she insists upon meeting his wife, the conceit that sets off the play's mountain of improbabilities. Lois Robbins said she took the role of Stephanie Dickinson, the dutiful nurse who plays along as Dr. Winston's wife, the “cactus flower,” when one of the producers said, it will change your life. Robbins laughed, I guess we will see tomorrow, when the reviews come out.

March 09, 2011

By the end of last night's premiere of Limitless, a new movie starring Bradley Cooper, everyone wanted to have what he has: the dream drug for over-achievers that keeps his character so upbeat and so focused, he simply cannot fail. A novelist with chronic writers block and scruffy hair, Eddie pens his book, learns the piano, French, gets a sharp suit and haircut, and speeds forward figuring out corporate finances for himself and for a Wall Street mogul played by Robert DeNiro. Whew! With the strength of superman, he fells the refrigerator-sized mobsters who want his stash. And keeping up with the breakneck speed of his mind, the cinematography takes you for a splendid ride.

Bradley Cooper, so good in one of my all-time favorites, Wedding Crashers, is probably best known for The Hangover. He is simply thrilling in this movie, his blue eyes blazing with intensity. And Abbie Cornish, as delicate as a poem in Bright Star, holds her own in this contemporary caper. Next up for her, a film directed by Madonna.

March 07, 2011

If you ever had a doubt that the French are obsessed with love, or at least have a different mindset about all variations: amour fou, fidelity, passion, adultery than we puritanical Americans, check out their movies. On this matter, the French are consistent.

Even in an epic length period drama like The Princess of Montpensierwith its sweeping battle scenes and violence, the love the young womanof the title experiences for Henri de Guise (Gaspard Ulliel), the rakish heartthrob of her youth is what matters most to director Bertrand Tavernier. Adapted from a 16th century 30 page story by Madame de Lafayette, the film also features Lambert Wilson, perhapsthe most appealing of French actors (see the very fine Of Gods and Men), as Chabanne, a soldier who transgresses military code by murdering a pregnant woman, driving his long blade through her belly, for which he renounces violence.Most tender are Marie’s scenes with Chabanne who instructs her in literature, philosophy, and all mattersof the court.

But as the popular Rendez-vous with French Cinema festival screens in the week ahead, love takes many forms: In the opening night film, Francois Ozon’s Potiche, the trophy wife played by Catherine Deneuvein curlers and professing bourgeois bliss, reconnects with an old love, bringing the iconic actress together again with that grand and sexy bear, Gerard Depardieu. When the memory of an old liaison re-ignites their heat, a hilarious moment occurs: she puts him off,“Not at our age.”

Most rendez-vous fare is less prudent. In quiet ways, gems such as Love Like Poison, Katell Quillevere’s coming of age drama about a 14 year old girl and a choirboy, and Martin Provost’s The Long Falling with Yolande Moreau, the story of asmall-town woman who kills her abusive husband, reveal complex shades of the love theme. While Antony Cordier’s Happy Few, about two couples who swap while maintaining their own marriages, offers a rare admission for the French: the psychological damage of mixing and matching partners.

Alas, while it is not always certain that French movies will have a U.S. theatrical release, fortunately, some will. Opening soon, Poticheis very funny, often laugh out loud silly, a fun diversion. I simply would not miss The Princess of Montpensier.

March 05, 2011

On a particular Saturday afternoon at the Manhattan Theater Club production of his new play Good People, playwright David Lindsay-Abaire revealed to an exuberant matinee crowd that the compelling characters he created for this play were known to him from his upbringing in South Boston--even down to the detail of the bingo games his mother enjoyed, as well as the googly eyed rabbit figurines. He might have been in Los Angeles that weekend: nominated for an Independent Spirit writing award for the screenplay of his drama, Rabbit Hole, or to support Nicole Kidman who was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar in the film. But obvious to all, Lindsay-Abaire was happy to be at the talk back for Good People.

Of course the word good is edgy. When asked which character is good, he said all of them. Or, none of them. Or maybe Stevie at the end if you define a good person, as the play does, as one who will give money to someone who needs it. In this working class environment in tough times, Margie, as perfectly acted by Frances McDormand under the expert direction of Daniel Sullivan is trapped in “Southie”: we see her, boldly honest, loyal, and, as in all great theater going back to Oedipus, proud to a fault; she is the instrument of her own fate. Margaret is a woman of such low expectations, you ask, could she havegotten out of South Boston.

The unwed mother of a mentally challenged grown up daughter, Margie creates some suspense around the father. When Margie loses her job at the convenience store, she goes to see Mike (a fine Tate Donovan), a high school flame who broke away from the neighborhood and became a successful fertility doctor. Now living in Chestnut Hill with a much younger wife (Renee Elise Goldsberry) whose color adds to the layering of discourse in this racially loaded province, Mike has morphed, in Margie’s words, joining the “lace curtain Irish.” Deploying one zinger after another, Margie is especially good at showing those around her exactly who they are. Most people, good and otherwise, can muster more self-preserving diplomacy.

The excellent sets (Jon Lee Beatty) and costumes (David Zinn) especially evoke the noble but worn environs of the bingo crowd: the greedy landlady Dottie played by Estelle Parsons, a neighbor, Jean (Becky Ann Baker), and Stevie, Margie’s former boss (Patrick Carroll) functioning like a Greek chorus, egging Margie on and taking her back, wounded yet strong after her glimpse into Mike’s new life with all its bourgeois grandeur outside Southie. “I thought the house would have columns,” she says giving the place a once-over.

David Lindsay-Adaire mines his hometown frontier well, neatly marking the fault line between white and blue collar. He wanted to write about class in America, he said, a subject the British do so well. Just maybe as Americans continue to feel the effects of recession economics, the subject of class may be all too resonant.

March 01, 2011

Co-host with Anne Hathaway at the Academy Awards show in Los Angeles, James Franco picks up his cell phone, a prop for peering into the dreams of the show's prior beloved M.C., Alec Baldwin. The Inception parody is played for laughs, but those in the know were poised to honor Baldwin's career the next night, in New York, at the annual tribute gala for the Museum of the Moving Image. Could this versatile actor be in two places at once?

Ubiquitous in the Hamptons, for example, and loveably so, Baldwin lends his name and talent to many arts projects on Long Island's east end. Starring in last summer's production of Equus at Guild Hall, Baldwin was the engine for mounting the critically acclaimed production, said Tony Walton. The director, along with Richard Gere, Gay Talese, Michael Lynne, Bob Balaban, and jazz documentarian Bruce Ricker, joined the eclectic crowd at Cipriani 42nd Street for good food, clips and speakers.

Mercedes Ruehl, Michael Keaton, Tim Curry, Ben Stiller, Jimmy Fallon, Edie Falco, and Tina Fey spoke about working with Alec, commenting on his professionalism and comic timing. Ruehl who worked with him in Married to the Mob (1988), emphasized his political commitment, cautioning on conflicts in campaign financing. He turned out to be right, she said of her fellow activist. Fey revealed, the role of Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock was written for him: “Alec is a writer's dream,” she noted. “He speaks fast.” The night-which was also a farewell dinner for Rochelle Slovin, the Museum's director for 30 years-- would not have been complete without a clip of that unforgettable moment from It's Complicated, with Alec's leap, naked, onto the bed, his privates covered by a laptop, and Steve Martin's reaction shot as he sees his rival for Meryl Streep on Skype. Noticeably absent though was the SNL skit, Alec with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, and eh, Sarah Palin.

Alec Baldwin does seem to be everywhere, but as Patricia Clarkson put it, “You want him everywhere.”